Help: Dual sim mobile phone replacement
I bought a Pixel 6 Pro unlocked a couple of years ago as my long term phone. It's what I like to do, buy a phone for 5+ years of use and get a cheap sim card. It's fine. If I could choose again I would have got the Samsung flagship instead.
I've since moved country and I'm in need of a dual sim phone (because I don't want 2 phones) for my home country and new one. But guess what, Pixel 6 pro is a single sim phone.
So that puts me in an uncomfortable position where I don't want to get a new phone yet (I'm 3 years out what I wanted to run this phone to) but I'd hate to get a second, crap phone just for a new number.
If I need to replace the Pixem, I would like to get another flagship (or close to) if possible. I like the bells and whistles. I simply wanted to avoid rebuying so early and see if there were options I had not yet considered.
It was suggested to try and recycle the Pixel, I'd get maybe €200 for it if I'm lucky, and it would help taking the cost out of a replacement flagship, but would still be expensive.
Any other suggestions for how I could navigate this?
Edit: thanks to @thecakeisalime for the esim suggestion. I've contacted my home network and got transfered to an esim in genuinely 15 minutes. That's opened the sim slot for the new number. Pretty much perfect solution!
You didn't mention this, so I'll bring it up in case you aren't aware: Pixel 6 Pro (and all the Pixels since 3) do support dual sims, but one of them needs to be an eSIM.
Many carriers support eSIMs now. It might be worth checking with one or both of the carriers you plan to sign up with to see if they can help you with that.
All recent iPhones are also dual sim. If it has a sim slot, you get one physical and one eSIM. If it doesn’t have a sim slot, you get dual eSIM.
The 13 series has a physical slot but allows dual eSIM
I used an eSIM for the first time this past fall. It was an absolute godsend while traveling abroad. I agree, if a phone has that ability then the OP should look into it.
Echoing this sentiment! I recently visited Korea back in December and purchased an eSIM online before going. All I had to do once I landed was turn off airplane mode and then add the eSIM through the settings app. It had me scan the QR code I was given when I purchased the SIM and within minutes I was connected, no fuss. Since my US SIM was also an eSIM, I just toggled it off and didn't have to worry about it the entire time I was traveling.
eSIM has also been relatively pain-free for me in general, at least on Pixel and iPhone. Once I made sure my phones were in their respective carrier's systems, the phones automatically downloaded the eSIMs and I was online in a few minutes. Even as I hopped from carrier to carrier for my Pixel, I didn't have to do much on my end.
That is way more frictionless than I expected.
When they announced eSIM, I assumed it was just going to be another way to make things harder and further enforce carrier lock-in.
The irony is, I have less use for it now than I did before. My current carrier lets me use my existing data plan in most foreign countries without any extra charge.
10 years ago, roaming with data was an expensive proposition with stringent data caps. It was much cheaper to just buy local prepaid service and swap out your SIM, though in my case this required using a special adapter to get around the AT&T carrier lock on my iPhone 4. The one person who spoke a little English at the Italian T-Mobile store I went to was very helpful in getting that sorted out the first time.
I wasn't aware no. Thanks for letting me know!
I'll check it out. I've seen some carriers advertise e-sim.
Appreciate the suggestion!
Galaxy S23 has eSIM as the 2nd sim option as well.
There are some good deals now that the S24 is out, eg my carrier 'leases' it to me for 24mos at $0 down and $0/mo in Canada.
I had family recently travelling abroad, and they were lucky to find a carrier that offered eSIM, but it that option wasn’t available, maybe requesting an eSIM for your home service and use the physical sim while overseas could potentially be an option?
Otherwise, physically swapping the SIM card when overseas also comes with the benefit that your phone can’t accidentally switch over and rack up a roaming bill if the settings don’t play nice.
I’ve always had good luck with AirAlo eSIM. Don’t need to bother with local carriers and I can purchase it before I leave.
I disable roaming at the carrier level on my primary SIM, enable WiFi calling for the primary SIM, and use the AirAlo eSIM for data. Generally when I’m abroad I don’t need a phone number - and most text based communication is WhatsApp/email - so the data only sim is perfect.
Most (but not all!) OnePlus phones have dual physical sims. The cheapest option showcased on their site is the 3 5G at 449€. You can probably get a less expensive model from yesteryear, but be sure to check if it supports dual sim.
Just to make it clear: I'm sure you meant the Nord 3 5G.
I actually just got one, and I think it's the closest you can get to flagship specs at that price point.